When RTD did the rounds drumming up interest/enthusiasm for the hybrid Disney/BBC co-production of this fancy new version of Doctor Who, he insisted that Series 1 (a purposeful framing in itself which the Tour innately dislikes–it’s Series 14) was one of those ‘jumping on’ points so that the enticed, unwashed curious could watch without the estimable ‘weight’ of history to dissuade them.
But RTD, like you and the Tour, are fans first, second, and forever, and he has demonstrated occasionally in the past, and certainly more often for Series finales, that he can’t resist the overwhelming temptation to indulge his inner fanboy. Such was the case at the end of Series 2 when he had the Daleks and Cybermen face-off against each other in Army of Ghosts and Doomsday. In fact he has always leaned into the past for finales featuring the Daleks, the Master, and Davros from Series 1-4. Now the seventies have come calling with Sutekh from Pyramids of Mars.
Here the Tour comes up against a fundamental tension in terms of history. When JN-T kept plundering the past in the 80’s, it rightly felt unimaginative to the point of being inevitable. So with our ‘arms-folded’ sense of remove we waited (or weighted) for Empire of Death to disappoint after the set-up in The Legend of Ruby Sunday.
But it didn’t. In fact we kinda liked it. Is there an extra-sized dollop of nonsense amid the general plot waffling. Of course. Was the virtual TARDIS closet pure fan service and wish casting? Yup. Did we fall for the naked emotional manipulation at the end. Affirmative. We’re forced to conclude, we guess, in the end, it all depends on the execution. There was even proof right there in the person of Bonnie Langford, who was not amongst the most well-remembered of companions from the 80s, being the emotive center for a Doctor Who story in 2024.
Fans. What’cha goin-to-do?
Images and 4K caps for Empire of Death are now online.